S02.E05: Be True

[tomatoflyer]

I wasn't a big fan of this episode. I couldn't believe a plot was whether or not Michael would go on tour. It's like the show is trying to bore me. By putting Jamal on a pedestal, he seems off in his own world that has no connection with anyone else.

Hakeem is so clueless, yet his heart seems in the right place. I truly think he doesn't realize how inappropriate his actions are.

I don't think I can conclude Kelly Rowland is doing a great job either. She barely has to do anything, and being really unstable in snippets is easier to play than having to show dimensions in interactions with multiple characters.

Gatz' daughter is also really flat for me - I feel like the actress' could make her so much more, but her scenes go really slowly for me.

I didn't dislike this episode, it just didn't meet expectations for me after last week. I am definitely looking forward to the kidnapping of Hakeem story - that could go in so many different directions.

Andre is always the one who resonates with me the most - in large part due to the nuances the actor brings. In every scene, I could feel his heartache, but it was in the subtle things - like the look in his eyes as he talks to his brothers. It doesn't overwhelm the episode.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Praise The Lord And Pass The Empire
When Andre decides to get baptized, a couple cats hop out of the bag.

[Lillybee]

Why the hell is Lucious wearing a grandpa sweather at the beginning of this episode.

[strongoxman]

Ok and so a little gossip I read online as to why the character and actor of Michael reappeared this season, it seems that Jussie and said actor have been seen around LA together and in a few pics on one of their Instagram accounts. Make of it, what you will.

Ha!  After this episode and wondering why Michael was brought back, I wondered if those two were IRL dating or something.  Will have to put my Google skills to the test.

[rozen]

Michael's response to creepy photog trying to blow his guy is to go make an appointment with the same dude? Wth? You're supposed to revenge sex someone else, particularly someone hot. That boy's head is as empty as an old biscuit tin. And the actor has a total of three facial expressions, so I can't even figure out what this character's motivations are. 

 

Pregnancy aside, I can see Rhonda acting so freaked out simply because Andre has made a sharp u-turn in behavior with absolutely no consultation with her. They always did things together, they reminded me of a low-rent Frank & Claire from House of Cards. The only time I've seen them this dissociated was when he was deep into his manic phase and she couldn't reach him. Now he's just quietly cut her out and is reconstructing this fairytale marriage between upstanding people who don't do the sexy times at the office. And that's ignoring the whole "God is telling me what to do" bombshell from before. She needs a whole new gameplan now, as she's got to fight the bipolar and Jesus. Tall order.

 

Seems like Andre has spilled his guts to the new preacher, for whom I have massive side-eye. Who hears all that crap and is like, oh yes, please do bring your rich and murderous family to my church, we'll heal them with the Lord? He's obviously not dumb and should have been running down the street to the FBI asap. He's working some angle, which will disappoint Andre again and send him spiraling. 

 

Cookie, I'm glad you love your kids, but no, you and Andre are fundamentally NOT good people. Y'all make MacBeth look like an after-school special. Further proven by the Lyon family acting a fool in church, when they were given the front row, even! You don't get to just show  your ass front-and-center in church your first time out. I wanted a cut-away of all the judgmental church biddies who were forced to move to the side for one sermon. Classy that Rhonda is still exiled to the "not blood family" island. Cookie and Lucious would sit the infant between them and leave Rhonda out on the sidewalk, if they could. Hmmph.

 

Also, yea Andre, go ahead and start shit with Thirsty. The guy with a dead body detector. The guy who helped you find your own personal dead body with said detector. That you confessed murder to. Idiot.

Edited October 25, 2015 by rozen

[tmelange]

Am I the only one who gets a kick out of seeing Taraji wielding a gun? She does it with such pizzazz. lol Obviously, she's played a cop before so she has the general look of someone who can handle a gun, but she puts a spin on it that makes me laugh every time she goes gangster with her pistol. She doesn't look ghetto (like the girl with the shotgun in the opening scene of Straight Outta Compton) per se; she looks like one of those fashionistas from the South whose daddy taught her how to shoot without messing up her nails. lol Those scenes are just the most amusing to me.

Edited October 26, 2015 by tmelange

[Guest]

TV baptisms are so violent.  The ones I've been to they dab a little water on the forehead.  On TV, it's always full immersion and last long enough to make the poor person gasp.  I know full immersion ones do happen in real life.  But like births, I feel like TV picks the most dramatic 5% and portrays 95% of them as that.  Which is ok, this isn't a documentary.  

 

Balcony bj... barf.  Get a room, Michael!  You live there!  Get a room with a door that locks!  

 

I loved the kidnap scene.  So classic.  I hope they scare some humility into the punk.  

[SimoneS]

I missed the show last week. I hope the World Series wraps up so we don't miss another episode.

[DollEyes]

 Five for five. Like I said before, the crazier this show gets, the better and there was more than enough crazy to go around. Lucius was his usual shitty self, especially to Andre, who wanted to get baptized as a sign of commitment to his faith, which Lucius had no time for, because of his atheism-that is, when it comes to any Gods other than himself. Even when Lucius did bother to show up at the baptism, he left before it was over, making one of the most important moments in Andre's life All. About. Him. When Lucius entered the church, like Cookie, I expected it to burst into flames.

 

  About Lyon Dynasty, things seemed to be working out for them until Tiana got jacked by two skanks working for a local thug who wants protection money, prompting Cookie to turn to Laz, a local promoter, for help. My verdict on Laz: while he's tough, smart (as he proved by being strapped when he & Cookie caught another thug in the act of robbing Lyon Dynasty, not that Cookie needed help because she was packing too) and hot (because he's played by Adam Rodriguez), something tells me that he's either directly responsible for the attacks or he knows who is, which is why I don't trust him.

 

  Loved Jamal's scenes with Ne-Yo, especially when Ne-Yo told him not to take relationship advice from Lucius, which, given Lucius' track record, would be like taking parenting advice from Jim-Bob & Michelle Duggar. As for Michael, he's on my shit list for not only cheating on Jamal in their house, it was with a guy who's not even hot.

 

  Poor Hakeem-or, rather, poor kidnappers. If they had even the slightest clue about whom they're messing with, they never would have even looked at Hakeem, let alone taken him.  Lucius and Cookie have their faults, to put it mildly, but if anyone hurts their sons besides them, there'll be Hell to pay. Mess with Lucius and/or Cookie Lyon, you get the claws.

[SailingBy]

As for Michael, he's on my shit list for not only cheating on Jamal in their house, it was with a guy who's not even hot.

 

On first seeing him, I thought: he looks like the love child of Rasputin and a Sasquatch.

[RCharter]

On first seeing him, I thought: he looks like the love child of Rasputin and a Sasquatch.

You fucking nailed it!  

[mostlylurking]

I was happy that Michael was the one to cheat on Jamal. Jamal can't make any decisions for himself and has become everyone's puppet this season.

Lucious being almost drowned by his mentally ill mom - ok that is some messed up shit but he is such a gigantic asshat that I still don't care.

How does Freda not realize that Lucious was the one to have her dad killed? So much for those street smarts.

I loved all of Rhonda's outfits. I laughed out loud when Porsha walked in with Whoopdie Woo.

Hakeem is totally clueless but his heart is in the right place. Andre is still my favorite. I loved when he said he could have been a thug too but he chose not to be. Lucious doesn't deserve any of his kids (maybe Jamal).

Cookie is a good mom.

That's all I got;)

[DollEyes]

 

I was happy that Michael was the one to cheat on Jamal. Jamal can't make any decisions for himself and has become everyone's puppet this season.

 

  I totally disagree. Jamal was very decisive not only when he chose not to cheat on Michael, but when he threw them out after catching them in the act, not to mention his throwing Cookie, Andre & Hakeem out of Lucius' house in the S2 premiere. I don't agree with all of Jamal's recent decisions either, but that doesn't mean he's a puppet.